Week #4 Tuesday, July 30 – Friday, August 2, 2019

Farm News

What abundance in the gardens right now! We’ve had plenty of rain each week and, since so far we’ve avoided damaging storms and plant disease, the gardens are bountiful. The garlic has all been harvested and it won’t be long and very soon it will be on to the onion harvest. We’re about to plant the last round of fall crops; a batch of beets and kale, maybe kohlrabi. Fall radishes get planted about now too along with some greens. Cover crops will be an important piece too as some gardens make the shift from vegetable production to cover crops.

Speaking of cover crops, we’ve begun preparations for our monarch butterfly habitat planting. You may remember that we are part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Monarch Butterfly Habitat Development Program. The program is about ensuring that monarchs (and other pollinators) have the habitat they need as they migrate from Mexico to Canada and back again. Ten states have been targeted from Texas to Minnesota and Wisconsin. This year, we planted buckwheat to be followed by another dense cover crop planting that will winter kill smothering weeds and holding the soil in place. Then, NEXT spring we’ll be planting a little over an acre with milkweed and other nectar rich plants for monarchs. We could have done that planting this year but we’re hopeful that we’ll get a better stand of the plants monarchs love by doing it this way. We’re also putting in a planting for the honeybees very near their hives. Right now that planting is buckwheat which we will let flower for the bees and eventually that patch will be planted to a honeybee pollinator mix.

In Your Bag

Veggie Notes

Once again, these are new red potatoes. The skins are ever to tender which makes them delicious but not keepers. The spicy salad mix is a mixture of red mustard, mizuna, tatsoi, kale, and arugula. Try it with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard vinaigrette. It’s delicious! The tomatoes are just beginning. We tried a colorful mix this year of yellow and chocolate pear tomatoes and green tigers. They’re a beautiful addition to a cucumber salad.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

The cabbage I mentioned last week will come in next week’s bag! We’ll likely have carrots again, more tomatoes and peppers, and probably either beets or fennel. We’ll keep those fresh onions and garlic coming.

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Announcements

We recently met (virtually) with Spring Hill’s Core Group, the amazing group of members whose thoughtful and creative minds guide Spring Hill. The discussion centered around the upcoming season in light of the corona virus. Even though vegetable harvesting won’t begin for several months, we wanted to begin thinking about any adjustments we might need to make now and begin preparing contingency plans that may need to be put in place later.

First and foremost, we are moving ahead with the 2020 season! After talking with the Core Group, participating in several national and regional on-line sessions with fellow farmers and food system experts, and reading the CDC guidelines, we believe we can safely and reliably grow food for Spring Hill members. As of now, the CDC has concluded that “food is not a likely vector” of the corona virus. Paying attention to already established food safety recommendations with extra care in sanitizing surfaces will guide us in producing safe, healthy food.

Our vegetable packing and delivery system, however, may need adjusting. Optimistically, we are planning for people to come to the farm to harvest and pack vegetables as usual. Yet even as we hope this will be the case, given current recommendations for physical distancing, we understand we may need to change our system for this season. In our discussion with the Core Group, a number of reasonable alternatives emerged. We will explore these and will keep you posted as we have more information.

One of the core tenets of community supported agriculture is shared risk and shared bounty. We know it’s possible that we and our workers may get sick during the coming harvest season. We want you to be aware of this and know that we are thinking about how to mitigate the impact of that scenario. On the other hand, we will continue to find ways to share the bounty.

Another core idea is community. Communities take care of each other. We know that some of you have had or will have significant changes to your household finances. Spring Hill does use a sliding fee scale. Please use it as needed and as you are able, whether that is using the lower end of the scale because finances are tight or using the upper end to support others who need it. If the low end of the scale feels unreachable in these uncertain times, please let us know. We want to make sure we take care of each other.

Finally, we were reminded by the Core Group that local solutions are an important piece of addressing this global problem. The CSA idea and the strength of the Spring Hill Community are as important as ever. Collectively we will get through this.